Major fire forces rail detour in Sacramento

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THE FIRE SENDS sends a dramatic wall of thick,black smoke thousands of feet intothe air over Sacramento.

FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE a train trestle fire in Sacramento on Thursday. A 300-foot stretch of an elevatedrailroad trestle caught fire and partially collapsed Thursday evening, sending a column of blacksmoke thousands of feet into the air and disrupting rail traffic through the state capital.

A spectacular Thursday night blaze that consumed a creosote-soaked wooden railroad trestle in Sacramento severed the main passenger and freight rail line from the Bay Area to points east, adding hours to Amtrak’s train trip to Chicago and delaying by as much as a day freight shipments from the Bay Area.

The Capitol Corridor line that serves Oakland- and Silicon Valley-bound commuters, however, managed to bridge the gap with buses and suffered only minimal delays.

“We are rerouting the California Zephyr in both directions to go through Marysville and onto the same route used by the Coast Starlight,” said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham. “Then it will drop like a spike into Roseville and head on east.”

The detour of the Emeryville-to-Chicago Zephyr will add more than two hours to the 51-hour trip, Graham said. Officials are uncertain how long it will take to rebuild the charred railway and restore normal service. The more commuter-oriented Capitol Corridor train that serves Auburn crossed the trestle shortly before the fire broke out at 5:41 p.m., and had to backtrack via Marysville to Sacramento to return to the Bay Area on Friday morning. Commuters to the Bay Area from Auburn and other stations east of the fire were bused to Sacramento to board the train as firefighters continued to snuff out the remnants of the fire Friday morning.

At the same time, Union Pacific, which operates the rail line, notified its freight customers that they should expect shipment delays of up to 24 hours, said Mark Davis, a spokesman for the Omaha-based railroad.

It took more than 125 firefighters all of Thursday night and Friday morning to control one of the biggest fires ever seen in the city. The Sacramento Fire Department announced that its investigation had not ruled out arson as a cause and that Union Pacific was offering $2,500 for information leading to the arrest of whoever might have started the blaze.

In the meantime, Union Pacific work crews prepared to rebuild as quickly as possible.

“Within about three hours of the fire last night, we began ordering equipment, from pile drivers to construction equipment, as well as any parts to rebuild the bridges,” Davis said Friday afternoon. “A lot of it arrived this morning.”